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The Soviet Union's best spy guru: known as the "Man with a Thousand Faces", he was finally exposed by a coin

Intelligence and espionage agencies have always existed from ancient times to the present, such as the ancient "bad people" and "Jinyi guards", the modern CIA, MI6 and so on.

Because information is too important, sometimes the enemy can change the whole situation with one key message, so people of insight will attach great importance to this piece. Especially in the period when the two major forces are in conflict, various means emerge in an endless stream, and spies are like being planted in the eyes of the enemy, and the responsibility is very heavy.

The most severe moment in the history of the modern world is the struggle for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union, which can also be described as the most brilliant era of espionage warfare, in which a Soviet lurked in Germany and the United States for decades, causing great losses to the West, and was hated by western counterparts as the "spy king" of the KGB. His name was Rudolf Abel and he was nicknamed The Man with a Thousand Faces.

The Soviet Union's best spy guru: known as the "Man with a Thousand Faces", he was finally exposed by a coin

Abel's sketches

In fact, it is strange to say that Abel later made so many great contributions to the Soviet Union, but his birthplace and adolescence were spent in Britain.

Abel's parents had been in exile in England as early as the Tsarist period, and he was born in Benville, Newcastle, England, in 1903, until Abel returned to Moscow at the age of 18.

It can only be said that his parents instilled the russian concept for him from a young age, not only the concept, the family also brought him a good language environment, because his father is German Russian, he grew up in Britain, so he has been proficient in Russia, Germany, England and other 6 Chinese since he was a child.

The Soviet Union's best spy guru: known as the "Man with a Thousand Faces", he was finally exposed by a coin

KGB

In 1925, after returning to China for 4 years, Abel resolutely joined the Soviet Red Army and was trained to serve in the radio battalion.

Since then, more and more of his shining points have also been revealed, and he has made great achievements in photography, painting, music, science, culture, etc., coupled with his language ability, he is simply a natural spy.

So in 1927, Abel was selected by the Soviet State Political Protection Service (the predecessor of kgb) to carry out intelligence missions in Britain, Norway and other regions.

At the end of 1939, Germany brazenly attacked Poland, which made the Soviet Union feel a sense of crisis, decided to send spies into the Nazi interior, and Abel, who was proficient in German, was selected, and he disguised himself as a German expatriate and entered Riga, the capital of Latvia, to officially start his legendary journey.

The Soviet Union's best spy guru: known as the "Man with a Thousand Faces", he was finally exposed by a coin

The Nazis had two prominent intelligence agencies, the SS and the Gestapo. Abel played easily between the two institutions as an expatriate.

Not only is it deeply trusted by both, but it also often provokes contradictions between the two sides. The great thing is that Abel has done a good job of not leaking, never been suspected of not saying anything, and has repeatedly conveyed important news for the Soviet Union.

One of them was in the summer of 1944, when Nazi Germany's strength on the frontal battlefield had diminished, and it was the idea of airdropping small elites to the Soviet rear to wreak havoc. The German Army Chief of Staff, Klebers, devised a "whirlwind" plan for this, with the first 30 soldiers, led by Captain Schwarzburg, and the attack site was selected in the Carpathian region of the Soviet Union.

When Abel received the news, he quickly informed the Soviets, and then planned to put a subordinate disguised as Captain Schwarzburg to join the secret German army.

Because these people did not know Schwarzburg in the first place, after a simple test, they chose to believe, so this "Schwarzburg" led the German army into the Soviet encirclement, and all of them were captured. Abel can be said to have single-handedly smoothed out the "whirlwind".

The Soviet Union's best spy guru: known as the "Man with a Thousand Faces", he was finally exposed by a coin

Abel in the film and television drama

Another time, before Germany was about to surrender, the Nazis still did not hesitate to select more than a thousand German spies, disguise themselves as prisoners in concentration camps, and wait until they were released by the Allies to go to European countries in new capacities to sabotage, just like terrorists.

Similarly, it was Abel who secretly transmitted the information and plastic surgery photos of more than a thousand people back to the Soviet Union after learning about it, resulting in the arrest of most of the Nazi spies lurking in the concentration camp.

By the end of World War II in 1945, Abel could finally live without fear, he was already the most successful spy in the Soviet Union, and with these credits, he could live a life of peace of mind. But what I didn't expect was that just a year later, I was again assigned to a difficult task.

In 1946, Abel was given another assignment for his excellence, this time targeting the United States, where his name was Andrei Cayotis. The Soviet authorities first let Abel live in Canada for about two years for insurance, and on November 15, 1948, Abel landed in New York Harbor with the passport of American citizen Andrei Kayotis.

His identity here is that of a painter and an art photographer, and because he speaks English well, no one doubted his identity until he was later punctured by a 5-cent coin.

The Soviet Union's best spy guru: known as the "Man with a Thousand Faces", he was finally exposed by a coin

One night in the summer of 1953, a newspaper boy named James Boza was delivering newspapers in Brooklyn, and the harvest was not bad that day, and on the way home, a 5-cent coin in his hand accidentally slipped, and he chased it up and stopped the coin with his foot, but he did not expect that the coin was directly stepped on and cracked.

The coin was fake, and it contained a small roll of microfilm, which was also the contact method of the Soviet spies, and it was not known which careless spy bought the newspaper and sent the coin out.

James didn't understand what it was, but his sister's boyfriend was a police officer, and when he heard about the strange thing, he immediately took the film and handed it to the FBI. Although it was not deciphered this time, it made the Americans nervous to know that there were Soviet spies in the city.

The Soviet Union's best spy guru: known as the "Man with a Thousand Faces", he was finally exposed by a coin

Abel

It wasn't until 1957 that the FBI captured several other Soviet spies, and a man named Renault Herhalen, who was not intimidated and lured, confessed that his superior was called "Mark" (Abel's code name for activities), but Renault did not know Mark's real name and specific address, only that this Mark lived in Brooklyn.

This news instantly reminded the FBI of the coin from 4 years ago, which turned out to be a big fish in Brooklyn!

So he immediately began to narrow the scope along the route of James selling newspapers that year, and finally targeted the painter

In Emile Goldfuss, this Emir is Abel's other pseudonym. Abel is worthy of being a top agent, and he senses that it is not right to change his identity and change his residence in advance, but after all, this is the territory of the Americans, or he was caught.

Abel remained calm and destroyed the most important codes and wireless telegraphs under the noses of 6 U.S. agents.

The Soviet Union's best spy guru: known as the "Man with a Thousand Faces", he was finally exposed by a coin

Abelian prisoner photograph taken by the FBI in 1957

Although Abel wanted to pretend to be mixed with garlic, he was still recognized by American agents and was eventually sentenced to 30 years. But Abel did not panic, doing whatever he wanted every day, and exercised diligently.

Because he is the "spy king of the Soviet Union", he not only holds many Western secrets, but also the Soviet Union, so that the Soviet Union will definitely try to save him. After a few years, the opportunity came.

In May 1960, when an American U-2 plane was secretly reconnoitring the Soviet Union, the pilot Bowers was captured, and the Americans were eager to know how the world's fastest and highest spy plane at that time was hit, whether the Soviet Union had a new type of weapon, and so they chose to exchange Abel for Bowers.

After reaching an agreement, the two sides exchanged hostages at the junction of East and West Germany in 1962.

The Soviet Union's best spy guru: known as the "Man with a Thousand Faces", he was finally exposed by a coin

Abel spoke to the KGB commander in 1964

After returning to China, Abel no longer had to work behind enemy lines, stepped on the stage, and his deeds were widely publicized and became a national hero. Experience in intelligence is passed on to the next generation without hesitation.

On November 15, 1971, the legendary spy Abel, 68, closed his eyes forever in Moscow.

Spies are important to the country, but they are sad for themselves, because there is danger behind enemy lines, not to mention, most spies have made many achievements that are not known, and the motherland will not admit it after death.

There are very few people like Abel who are full of glory and can eventually retire with their whole body.

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